Pedestrian crossings
Dec. 8th, 2002 02:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magidLooking at the official ways to designate pedestrian crossings, not the jay-walking everyone does.
There's the crossing itself, which requires motorists to stop. One step up is the crossing with one of those orange barrels in the center with the sign reminding motorists that this is their legal obligation. Up another level is the crosswalk coordinated with a traffic light, giving the clear signal (white walking person/ red hand) when it is appropriate to cross. More safety (presumably, though there are idiots out there always (wave to ZZBottom)), but theoretically more restriction on the pedestrian, too, since only some of the time is it appropriate to cross. A more recent enhancement is having the lights show how many seconds are left (Can I make it across in time?). The other recent wrinkle is the crosswalks that beep when it's legal to cross, presumably to help the sight-impaired among us. There's at least one intersection that has different beeps for the different pairs of opposite sides. What I find more bizarre is how some intersections indicate pedestrian crossing by having the red and yellow lights on at once. I think this might be a MA-specific thing; I've heard people originally from out of state become confused by this. I thought I'd seen it all, though, until my bus commute. In Watertown Square, there's at least one crosswalk that indicates to motorists that they don't have the right of way by having the red lights have a blue flash come out of the middle of the red. I kept turning, looking for a cop car, the first time I saw this. It's distracting, especially since it's not a standard thing. I wonder who came up with that...
There's the crossing itself, which requires motorists to stop. One step up is the crossing with one of those orange barrels in the center with the sign reminding motorists that this is their legal obligation. Up another level is the crosswalk coordinated with a traffic light, giving the clear signal (white walking person/ red hand) when it is appropriate to cross. More safety (presumably, though there are idiots out there always (wave to ZZBottom)), but theoretically more restriction on the pedestrian, too, since only some of the time is it appropriate to cross. A more recent enhancement is having the lights show how many seconds are left (Can I make it across in time?). The other recent wrinkle is the crosswalks that beep when it's legal to cross, presumably to help the sight-impaired among us. There's at least one intersection that has different beeps for the different pairs of opposite sides. What I find more bizarre is how some intersections indicate pedestrian crossing by having the red and yellow lights on at once. I think this might be a MA-specific thing; I've heard people originally from out of state become confused by this. I thought I'd seen it all, though, until my bus commute. In Watertown Square, there's at least one crosswalk that indicates to motorists that they don't have the right of way by having the red lights have a blue flash come out of the middle of the red. I kept turning, looking for a cop car, the first time I saw this. It's distracting, especially since it's not a standard thing. I wonder who came up with that...